Awesome Audiophile Snake Oil

Techmoan is pretty great. Going to have to watch that video even if its just to find out if bobbins is good or bad

x's and p's the Absolute Sound audiophile mag loves that Clearaudio Statement table, it's hella expensive ($150,000)

i know there's a burgeoning movement in favor of Luxury Leftism and i'm not opposed but i still feel like anybody who buys that should have all their money and possessions expropriated and redistributed

https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lis8i77j-highend-novum-pmr-premium-mk-ii-room-acoustic-resonator-extraordinaire-room-treatments

"...I tried it on my wife, Marina, who, after 20 years with me, has heard it all. Without prompting, she said that she noticed more clarity, greater focus, more vidid sound, superior definition, and tighter, more extended bass."

I'm really starting to just hate these people

https://ucarecdn.com/e2bc9d0d-b40b-41df-a995-1e5067e93955/-/autorotate/yes/

I love how in that photo (and in another setup), there's a PMR and Hallographs!

can't these people hire a fucking string quartet to entertain them or something

http://www.shakti-innovations.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Hoffman-pic-1.jpg

laughing so hard at those two pics, thanks silby

it's all naus' doing I'm just curating

I'm so confused.

I have absolutely no idea what's going on.

With the thumb held erect and the fist angled in this way, the system immediately gains even more spaciousness and realistic detail

I bet these guys don’t jack off

I bet they have TRS insulation bands tattooed on their dicks

I am scared of seeing the reverse angle of that sound system/keith richards pic

is it empty, a single chair, or maybe the j/o couch

I'm intrigued by the type of person who would want a poster of "Old Keith," not to mention a system that is all gigantic horns, and puts their lightbulbs on the carpet.

Possibly it’s an elaborate setup for committing insurance fraud.

Act now: this is an incredible deal on a barely used USB cable for $6,000. https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lis8jbi0-siltech-cables-golden-universal-crown-usb-cable-type-b-digital

greatest bargain since $500 danceable ethernet cables

http://www.soundstage.com/ssupdate/pics/2009-3_shakti.jpg

Recently, I was talking with Ben Piazza, the founder of Shakti Innovations, the company that makes the Stones and On-Lines. He advised me of a very effective new application for them: placing a single stone directly over the circuitry the inside your breaker box, particularly the breakers that control the circuits that are used for your audio system. It works. I experienced more of the same types of improvements that I had initially heard with the Stones and On-Lines on or near my electronics and speakers. While I used Velcro to secure the Stone to my breaker box, others (as pictured above) have used a bent coat hanger to suspend the Stone over the front panel. If you go this route, be careful how and where you affix the coat hanger. High voltages are present, of course.

pure psychosis

well that looks like a potentially self-correcting problem right there

build a moat around your fuse box

You have not heard music until you've listened with a Shakti Stone strapped right onto the front of your face (using our FaceStone woven silk strap system hand-designed for improved energy transfer, $6999/pair)

If you go this route, be careful how and where you affix the coat hanger. High voltages are present, of course.

Of course! Insert a metal object into an outlet of pure electricity, but be careful as you do so.

I wonder if audiophilia is more like gambling addition or hoarding.

Has anyone cut a shakti stone in half yet

picture of half a shakti tied to each headphone with shoelaces forthcoming

this is one of my favourite threads

rare footage of a shakti stone being cut in half

https://proxy.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fbestanimations.com%2FMilitary%2FExplosions%2Fnuclear-atom-bomg-explosion-animated-gif-5.gif&f=1

observers up to six miles away reported the detonation had bell-like highs with rich, creamy mids and a nuanced bass response

I hate to be pedantic on this of all threads but that gif is actually of two shakti stones being pressed together with such force that they become one

Here’s a shakti stone being cut in half, underwater

https://giphy.com/gifs/black-and-white-explosion-uSHMDTUL7lKso

Ah fuck it

looks more like they nipped the lower right corner

What are audiophiles referencing specifically when they say, for example, this white TT belt produced much more accurate 'timing' and 'musicality' in the music. This is something that was said to me when I upgraded the belt on my TT. I was buying it anyway, so the 'timing' comment didnt sell it to me, but I have no way of confirming what he said was true, or even what the fuck it means. surely if the turntable is running at a consistent speed, then there is no issue with timing. I would be shocked if other belts fluctuated in timing per revolution.

Audiophiles are obsessives who are looking for something, anything, no matter the price, that will match the first time they heard their favorite record on a good system. Instead of spending their disposable income mostly on new music, chasing after the “new favorite album” feeling, they blow it on speakers and amps and eventually devolving to cables and belts, chasing the “good system” feeling. It’s always seemed bizarre to me that people use these six-figure systems to listen to, like, maybe 10 albums. Over and over.

To the question above, whether it’s more like gambling addiction or hoarding - neither? Some record collectors are definitely hoarders. Audiophiles are more like drug addicts I think. Chasing that first high, spending whatever they have. That rock hung off a circuit breaker with a coat hanger is like the shooting-up-between-toes phase.

xp you are correct that timing is a worse description of what matters than speed. you could of course pick a point on the platter, time its return to a single point, and calculate an average speed. But that wouldn't really tell you if the speed is consistent during a revolution, which is also important. 'timing' is usually a bigger concern for a mechanism that provides feedback to the motor, i.e. not the belt. 'musicality' is obvious bullshit.

some of the audiophile dudes will have a large record collection, but I think a lot of them listen to the same small set of albums and probably own every format of that set ever released

Exactly. In addition to owning every (audiophile-worthy) format (that is, they're probably not seeking out 8-tracks), the hunt for the MOST MUSICAL GOLD-PLATED RCA CABLES goes hand-in-hand with HAVE YOU HEARD THE SOUNDSTAGE ON THIS PRESSING OF WHATEVER THE FUCK JAMES TAYLOR ALBUM THAT I ALREADY HAVE 20 COPIES OF?

I know it's usually something like that, but I always like to pretend that they all own a single album, but it's every edition of Dark Side of the Moon.

If the Steve Hoffman forums are anything to go by, a) yes, they mostly own a single album, and b) said album could be literally anything. I've seen threads comparing Herman's Hermits pressings.

I kinda want to see a big study with likert scale surveys, behavioral assessments, even brain scans of people who experience this fork in the road and go down either the MUST HAVE ALL THE RECORDS route vs. the MUST HAVE THE BEST SYSTEM route vs. the meh it’s just okay I’d rather go on a run with some mp3s route vs. the actually I’m deaf.

xxxxxxxp -- when audiophiles refer to timing they aren't talking about turntable speed; it's an element of what they refer to as "PRaT" -- pace, rhythm, and timing. You're unlikely to get a solid definition if you Google it, but apparently it can mean anything from the ability of a piece of audio equipment to get your toe tapping to how well that piece of equipment reproduces transients. According to Stereophile magazine, your old belt may have been conspiring "to give an aura of lassitude in which the musicians seem to be playing subtly out of time. This failing may, with practice and acuity, be discerned on just a few notes of a single voice or instrument. Here one may perceive a nuance of uncertainty, a hint of nervousness, or a feeling that the steady, controlled flow of a performance is not as even or as secure as it should be." It sounds like your new belt will solve that problem, assuming that your amplifier and speakers (and cables) also handle PRaT well.

been years since I heard the word 'prat'
so appropriate here.

I don't know, i've been listenign to music my whole life and i've never had an issue with Pacing, Rhythm or Timing as far as i'm aware. The good news is, i've got this white belt and now i'm set.

I'd like to know how these folks view live performances.

I mean, for some classical music fans, the recordings are a very last resort to hear a particular piece. I'm not say all or even a majority of classical fans are this way, but for some, the live performance is the only way to experience the music.

my system had issues with Pacing, Rhythm, and Timing. So I hired a PI to watch my fuse box and send me daily reports on its whereabouts.